A suspected case of bird flu in a commercial egg farm is being investigated by ACT authorities following outbreaks at other Australian farms.
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The territory's government is looking into a suspected case in Canberra with the farm locked down and the region's egg producers being consulted, ACT Environment Minister Rebecca Vassarotti said on Wednesday.
It comes after the bird flu virus was detected at 10 farms across NSW and Victoria, resulting in more than one million chickens being destroyed.
The ACT government was working alongside NSW counterparts on the outbreak and biosecurity measures, Ms Vassarotti said.
"I would like to reassure the Canberra community that the avian influenza virus is a low risk to the public. Transmission to humans is very rare, and unlikely unless there is direct and close contact with sick birds," the minister said in a statement on Wednesday.
Avian influenza is not a food safety concern and it is safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry meat, eggs and egg products, she said.
NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the suspected case was linked to the outbreak at a farm in the state's Hawkesbury region last week.
"The ACT-located commercial egg farm has been locked down with no products, eggs, and machinery allowed in or out, and the site's hens will need to be depopulated," she said.
The state's Biosecurity Incident Management team has been tracing the movement of eggs and materials from the infected sites with surveillance ongoing.
The H7 strain of the bird flu virus that has been detected in Australia is not the H5N1 strain, that has infected billions of animals globally and raised fears of transmission to humans.
Australian Associated Press
